Fumel (FR)

SITE / CONTEXT

A key site of French steel production, this vast industrial complex, established in 1847, reached its peak in the 1970s when it employed over 3,000 workers daily. The following decades marked the beginning of difficulties for the factory, with restructurings and waves of layoffs before its final closure in 2018. The former factory has shaped the history of Fumel in all aspects. Its foundries animated the territory, altered the landscape, brought together communities of workers, and generated a local economy. This 20-hectare industrial site occupies a strategic position along the Lot River, midway between the historic centers of Monsempron-Libos and Fumel, with a prominent view from the terraces of the castle. Since 2008, the community of communes has owned the site and now aims to transform it and make the territory more attractive. Several projects have been considered to revitalize this strategic space economically, socially, and environmentally: a photovoltaic park, a central kitchen, a medical-social center, an arts school, a heritage-focused tourism project, and a landscaped park are to be integrated into a global approach and project.
Across the board, the question of the timeframe for development and the economic 000 realism within which it could unfold are crucial issues that must serve as a starting point for the realization of the conversion project. The former Fumel factory is a symbol of the challenges and opportunities tied to industrial transformation in France, highlighting the need to adapt to global economic changes while preserving the local social and economic fabric.

QUESTIONS FOR THE COMPETITORS

The site’s challenges call for the existing heritage to be reactivated through mixed and innovative programming within a global economy that supports a long-term collective project. How can we deal with a critical urban decline? How can we make the area attractive again by building on its specific characteristics? How can we invest in a polluted site while ensuring that it is transformed for the future? How can we transform negative commons into a positive dynamic? How can we turn a solar farm into an exemplary project that generates urbanity? How can the site’s memory be preserved as part of a new history? How can we reconnect the site with its environment and its elements?
The occupation of this area will go through several phases, linking the short, medium and long term. Its coherence depends on an evolving and adaptable process that is responsive to new entrants. Innovative tools need to be proposed to implement ambitious models in line with the area’s resources.